Posted on Fri, Apr 16, 2010 @ 09:05 AM
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) this week published its long overdue Electronic On-Board Recorders rule (EOBR). The rule was ready a year ago but was pulled back to allow the incoming Obama Administration to review it. It is schedule to go into effect June 1, 2012.
The rule, the first requiring EOBR’s, is limited to carriers with serious patterns of hours-of-service (HOS) violations as a result of Compliance Reviews. The FMCSA estimated that 5,700 truck and bus companies would be required to purchase, install and use EOBR’s after the first year of implementation of the new rule. Carriers with ten percent (10%) or more HOS (log) violations discovered during a Compliance Review will be required to install and use EOBR’s in all their vehicles for at least two years according to the FMCSA.
The rule also contains long-awaited technical requirements for EOBR’s, long a concern among competing manufacturers of the devices.
In a related story, David Bradley, President of the Canadian Trucking Alliance (Canada’s largest trucking advocacy group with more than 4,500 carriers as members) said EOBR’s should be mandatory for all truckers operating in North America. He went on to say the FMCSA will “inevitably” move toward broader EOBR requirements if not a universal mandate.
US carriers which voluntarily use EOBR’s will be exempt from some of the FMCSA’s requirements regarding retaining the retention of documents to support HOS enforcement.
Published by Kevin Mullen: Director-Safety
Posted on Thu, Apr 15, 2010 @ 11:08 AM
Since we began discussing CSA 2010 back in January, there have been several common questions that have come up again and again. Thankfully, the CSA 2010 website has a plethora of information on the topic. Below are some of the most frequently asked questions and the CSA 2010 official answer.
Q. Why does FMCSA’s new CSA 2010 program emphasize
driver safety enforcement?
A. Studies have shown that unsafe driver behavior, both on the
part of CMV drivers and other drivers, is a major contributor
to CMV-related crashes. Some studies indicate that a small
segment of the CMV driver population is involved in a
disproportionately large number of crashes. As a result,
during the CSA 2010 Operational Model Test, FMCSA is
expanding its approach to identifying and addressing unsafe
drivers during interventions with motor carriers.
Q. Can you describe the CSA 2010 driver safety enforcement
process?
A. The driver safety enforcement process provides FMCSA with
the tools to identify CMV drivers with safety performance
problems and to verify and address the issues. The new tools
enable Safety Investigators (SIs) to identify drivers with poor
safety histories who work for carriers that have been identified
as requiring a CSA 2010 investigation. If the investigation
results verify the driver violation(s), FMCSA takes an
enforcement action against that driver, such as a Notice of
Violation (NOV) or a Notice of Claim (NOC).
Q. What kinds of driver safety performance data is CSA 2010
looking at?
A. The new program focuses on driver enforcement for serious
rule violations, such as:
•Driving while disqualified
•Driving without a valid commercial driver’s license
•Making a false entry on a medical certificate
•Committing numerous Hours-of-Service violations
Q. Do tickets or warnings that drivers receive while
operating their personal vehicles impact the new SMS?
A. No. Tickets or warnings that drivers receive while operating
their personal cars are State citations and do not count in
the new measurement system. SMS only uses violations
of FMCSA's regulations, and those regulations only apply
to people driving large CMVs. In measuring on-road safety
performance, SMS uses all safety-based violations
documented at roadside inspections as well as State-
reported crashes.
Q. Will CSA 2010 assign safety ratings to individual CMV
drivers? I heard that CSA 2010 is designed to rate CMV
drivers and to put many of them out of work this summer.
A. No. Under CSA 2010, individual CMV drivers will not be
assigned safety ratings or Safety Fitness Determinations
(SFDs). Consistent with the current safety rating regulations
(49 CFR part 385), individual drivers who operate
independently as a “motor carrier” (i.e. have their own USDOT
number, operating authority, and insurance) will continue to
be rated as a motor carrier, as they are today, following an
onsite investigation at their place of business. CSA 2010 is
designed to meet one overriding objective: to increase safety
on the Nation’s roads. Therefore, it is, by design, a positive
program for drivers and carriers with strong safety
performance records. CSA 2010 sends a strong message that
drivers and carriers with poor safety performance histories
need to improve.
Q. What is the Pre-Employment Screening Program (PSP)
and when does it start?
A. PSP is a new FMCSA program mandated by Congress that is
designed to assist the motor carrier industry in assessing
individual operators’ crash and serious safety violation history
as a pre-employment condition. The program is voluntary.
It is not part of CSA 2010. The system is expected to launch
in 2010. For more information about PSP, visit FMCSA's PSP
website.
Q. What is the detailed process for drivers to contest
information contained in their FMCSA driver records?
A. Drivers should use FMCSA’s DataQs system to challenge data
in FMCSA databases. To do this, drivers can go to the DataQs
registration page, select “Register Online” as a general public user, and create a DataQs account profile. Once registered, drivers
can challenge their data by following detailed instructions in
the help menu. The Agency is in the process of improving the
DataQs Website to make the process of challenging data more
apparent to drivers.
We hope this helps answer any questions you may be having about CSA 2010. If you need more help, visit the CSA 2010 website or send an email to us and we will get to work researching the answer for you.
Posted on Wed, Apr 14, 2010 @ 11:04 AM
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration on Monday released preliminary CSA 2010 data to motor carriers. (Carrier data is confidential at this time and a PIN issued by the FMCSA is required to access it.) The raw inspection data does not include CSA 2010 scoring. Scores are expected to be available in August.
A quick review of this carriers’ data revealed two striking numbers:
- 65% of “Unsafe Driving” inspections were precipitated by a traffic stop for speeding. (If you include traffic stops for following too closely the number rises to 76%)
- 45% of our “Vehicle Maintenance” inspections were precipitated by something as simple as an inoperative light.
Clearly, just focusing on these two areas would have a dramatic impact on a carriers' CSA 2010 scores. Good safety management policies and procedures (and driver education programs) with monitoring and follow-up can drive down these and all CSA 2010 BASICS.
Full implementation of CSA 2010 has been delayed until 2011, which provides carriers with a little additional time to educate drivers and tweak policies, procedures, and programs. However it is a brief respite because today’s inspections will be reflected in CSA 2010 scores whenever full implementation occurs. (The FMCSA signaled their intention to begin using CSA 2010 scores to prioritize carriers for “interventions” as early as November.)
Full implementation will begin in the 9 test states (Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Kansas, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana and New Jersey) in July.
Carriers would be well served by reviewing their preliminary data now and acting immediately to shore up deficiencies in their safety management systems.
Posted by Kevin Mullen, Director- Safety
Posted on Tue, Feb 02, 2010 @ 09:34 AM
Another series of articles on Commercial Motor Vehicle (CMV) safety by Kevin Mullen,
Director of Safety at ADS LOGISTICS CO, LLC.
Most motor vehicle crashes are investigated by trained and qualified crash investigators. As part of their investigation they attribute cause(s) for the crash when ascertainable. The #1 cause of all crashes (not just CMV crashes) when a cause is attributed, is speed. (In 2008 of 37,261 fatalities 11,674 [31%] were speeding related.)
Speed increases the distance necessary for a vehicle to stop in the event of a hazardous occurrence. Speed also decreases the time the driver has to recognize and react to the occurrence. Simply stated, speed reduces or eliminates any margin for safely avoiding a crash. Speeding not only means traveling over the posted speed limit but also driving too fast for conditions. Did you know speed limits are posted for ideal conditions? Driving the posted speed limit when road or weather conditions are poor is an infraction in most states.
Likewise, when investigators are able to determine a contributing factor for the severity of an accident (property damage, injury or fatality) the #1 contributing factor for severity is speed as well. Think about it… a vehicle traveling 65 MPH (or faster) generates more force than a vehicle traveling 55 MPH. It’s simple physics.
So often today we're in a rush to get somewhere. Many times we don't even leave early enough to allow ourselves sufficient time to drive the speed limit. Coupled with delays en route we think speeding is the only option. Being late (again) could mean getting fired. If you're late picking up the kids at day care they charge a fee. The excuses go on and on.
Think about how lame that excuse will sound when you’re involved in a crash you could have avoided had you been driving the speed limit or a speed reasonable for road and weather conditions. Think about how foolish that excuse will sound when someone (perhaps in your own vehicle) has been injured or killed as a result of your speeding.
Let’s resolve to get up earlier, leave earlier, and allow ourselves sufficient time to get where we’re going without speeding. Let’s allow ourselves time in our commute for heavier than normal traffic or a delay caused by a crash.
Let’s resolve not to put our lives or the lives of others at risk by speeding. The next time you consider speeding stop and think… is your reason (excuse) worth the risk?
Speeding is not a victimless crime. Speeding is the #1 cause of all crashes and the #1 contributing factor to the severity of all crashes. Speed-related crashes cost billions.
Speed kills… literally!
Posted on Tue, Jan 05, 2010 @ 03:18 PM
The
FMCSA is tentatively scheduled to roll out
CSA 2010 in the second half of the year but it’s already too late if you haven’t begun taking steps to ensure a positive outcome.
The fallacy of the second half roll out is that, like any program, it needs data to rate when it goes live. That data is being collected now and has been collected for the last eighteen months.
CSA 2010 will replace the current
SafeStat system. Notably it will generate carrier Safety Ratings without the need for a Compliance Review by simply analyzing roadside inspection violation and crash data. Even more important is that it will analyze all violations not just the out-of-service violations the current system uses.
New for CSA 2010 is a
driver component. For the first time in its history the FMCSA will now rate individual drivers based on their violations on roadside inspections and their motor vehicle records (MVR). The FMCSA may declare drivers “unfit” separate from any action which may or may not be taken by the state which issued their
CDL (based on points for instance). A nationwide database of driver violation histories will be made available to carriers as CSA 2010 is rolled out.
Simply stated, carriers need to be taking steps now to educate their people, especially their drivers. Everyone in the organization needs to understand how their decisions and their performance will impact the carrier's Safety Rating. Education is probably the single most important key to a satisfactory outcome when CSA 2010 goes live.
Drivers need to understand now more than ever the importance of performing a thorough pre-trip inspection every day and reporting safety-related defects to their Maintenance Department so they can be repaired before the truck hits the road and before they’re discovered on a roadside inspection and become data for CSA 2010.
Drivers need to understand that traffic, license, log and similar driver violations will- for the first time in DOT history- will impact their own safety fitness rating, not just the carriers.
Carriers need to ensure their maintenance programs are performing at the highest possible level. Not carrying proof of preventive maintenance, for example, carries the highest weight rating of any violation. Not all violations are created equal.
Carriers need to act quickly to educate themselves and their people on the mechanics and potential ramifications of CSA 2010.